Enterprise resource planning
Overview
Finance
"Finance" is often defined simply as the management of money or “funds” management Modern finance, however, is a family of business activity that includes the origination, marketing, and management of cash and money surrogates through a variety of capital accounts, instruments, and markets created...
/accounting, manufacturing
Manufacturing
Manufacturing is the use of machines, tools and labor to produce goods for use or sale. The term may refer to a range of human activity, from handicraft to high tech, but is most commonly applied to industrial production, in which raw materials are transformed into finished goods on a large scale...
, sales and service, customer relationship management
Customer relationship management
Customer relationship management is a widely implemented strategy for managing a company’s interactions with customers, clients and sales prospects. It involves using technology to organize, automate, and synchronize business processes—principally sales activities, but also those for marketing,...
, etc. ERP systems automate this activity with an integrated software application. Their purpose is to facilitate the flow of information between all business functions inside the boundaries of the organization and manage the connections to outside stakeholders.
ERP systems can run on a variety of hardware
Hardware
Hardware is a general term for equipment such as keys, locks, hinges, latches, handles, wire, chains, plumbing supplies, tools, utensils, cutlery and machine parts. Household hardware is typically sold in hardware stores....
and network
Computer network
A computer network, often simply referred to as a network, is a collection of hardware components and computers interconnected by communication channels that allow sharing of resources and information....
configurations, typically employing a database
Database
A database is an organized collection of data for one or more purposes, usually in digital form. The data are typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality , in a way that supports processes requiring this information...
as a repository for information.
ERP(Enterprise Resource Planning ) systems typically include the following characteristics:
- An integrated system that operates in real time (or next to real time), without relying on periodic updates.
- A common database, which supports all applications.
- A consistent look and feel throughout each module.
- Installation of the system without elaborate application/data integration by the Information Technology (IT) department.
Finance
Finance
"Finance" is often defined simply as the management of money or “funds” management Modern finance, however, is a family of business activity that includes the origination, marketing, and management of cash and money surrogates through a variety of capital accounts, instruments, and markets created...
/Accounting: General ledger
General ledger
The main accounting record of a business which uses double-entry bookkeeping. It will usually include accounts for such items as current assets, fixed assets, liabilities, revenue and expense items, gains and losses. Each General Ledger is divided into debits and credits sections. The left hand...
, payables
Accounts payable
Accounts payable is a file or account sub-ledger that records amounts that a person or company owes to suppliers, but has not paid yet , sometimes referred as trade payables. When an invoice is received, it is added to the file, and then removed when it is paid...
, cash management
Cash management
In United States banking, cash management, or treasury management, is a marketing term for certain services offered primarily to larger business customers...
, fixed assets, receivables
Accounts receivable
Accounts receivable also known as Debtors, is money owed to a business by its clients and shown on its Balance Sheet as an asset...
, budgeting, consolidation
Consolidation
Consolidation may refer to:* Consolidation , the mergers or acquisitions of many smaller companies into much larger ones* Consolidation , a geological process whereby a soil decreases in volume...
Human resources
Human resources
Human resources is a term used to describe the individuals who make up the workforce of an organization, although it is also applied in labor economics to, for example, business sectors or even whole nations...
: payroll
Payroll
In a company, payroll is the sum of all financial records of salaries for an employee, wages, bonuses and deductions. In accounting, payroll refers to the amount paid to employees for services they provided during a certain period of time. Payroll plays a major role in a company for several reasons...
, training
Training
The term training refers to the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and competencies as a result of the teaching of vocational or practical skills and knowledge that relate to specific useful competencies. It forms the core of apprenticeships and provides the backbone of content at institutes of...
, benefits
Employee benefit
Employee benefits and benefits in kind are various non-wage compensations provided to employees in addition to their normal wages or salaries...
, 401K, recruiting, diversity management
Diversity (business)
The "business case for diversity" stems from the progression of the models of diversity within the workplace since the 1960's. The original model for diversity was situated around affirmative action drawing strength from the law and a need to comply with equal employment opportunity objectives...
Manufacturing
Manufacturing
Manufacturing is the use of machines, tools and labor to produce goods for use or sale. The term may refer to a range of human activity, from handicraft to high tech, but is most commonly applied to industrial production, in which raw materials are transformed into finished goods on a large scale...
: Engineering
Engineering
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
, bill of materials
Bill of materials
A bill of materials is a list of the raw materials, sub-assemblies, intermediate assemblies, sub-components, components, parts and the quantities of each needed to manufacture an end product...
, work orders, scheduling, capacity, workflow management, quality control
Quality control
Quality control, or QC for short, is a process by which entities review the quality of all factors involved in production. This approach places an emphasis on three aspects:...
, cost management, manufacturing process, manufacturing projects, manufacturing flow, activity based costing, product lifecycle management
Product lifecycle management
In industry, product lifecycle management is the process of managing the entire lifecycle of a product from its conception, through design and manufacture, to service and disposal...
Supply chain management
Supply chain management
Supply chain management is the management of a network of interconnected businesses involved in the ultimate provision of product and service packages required by end customers...
: Order to cash
Order to cash
"Order to cash" normally refers to the business process for receiving and processing customer sales. It follows "Opportunity to Order" and covers business-to-business and business-to-consumer sales...
, inventory
Inventory
Inventory means a list compiled for some formal purpose, such as the details of an estate going to probate, or the contents of a house let furnished. This remains the prime meaning in British English...
, order entry, purchasing
Purchasing
Purchasing refers to a business or organization attempting for acquiring goods or services to accomplish the goals of the enterprise. Though there are several organizations that attempt to set standards in the purchasing process, processes can vary greatly between organizations...
, product configurator, supply chain planning, supplier scheduling, inspection of goods, claim processing, commissions
Project management
Project management
Project management is the discipline of planning, organizing, securing, and managing resources to achieve specific goals. A project is a temporary endeavor with a defined beginning and end , undertaken to meet unique goals and objectives, typically to bring about beneficial change or added value...
: Costing, billing
Billing
Billing may refer to:*The process of sending a bill to customers for goods or services is called billing...
, time and expense, performance units, activity management
Customer relationship management
Customer relationship management
Customer relationship management is a widely implemented strategy for managing a company’s interactions with customers, clients and sales prospects. It involves using technology to organize, automate, and synchronize business processes—principally sales activities, but also those for marketing,...
: Sales and marketing, commissions, service, customer contact, call center support
Data services : Various "self–service" interfaces for customers, suppliers and/or employees
Access control
Access control
Access control refers to exerting control over who can interact with a resource. Often but not always, this involves an authority, who does the controlling. The resource can be a given building, group of buildings, or computer-based information system...
: Management of user privileges for various processes
In 1990 Gartner Group first employed the acronym
Acronym and initialism
Acronyms and initialisms are abbreviations formed from the initial components in a phrase or a word. These components may be individual letters or parts of words . There is no universal agreement on the precise definition of the various terms , nor on written usage...
ERP as an extension of material requirements planning
Material requirements planning
Material requirements planning is a production planning and inventory control system used to manage manufacturing processes. Most MRP systems are software-based, while it is possible to conduct MRP by hand as well....
(MRP), later manufacturing resource planning
Manufacturing resource planning
Manufacturing resource planning is defined by APICS as a method for the effective planning of all resources of a manufacturing company...
and computer-integrated manufacturing.
Unanswered Questions
